You can find a lot of nice demonstration files of Scia Engineer on Youtube.

Just like this one:

More movies can be found in the Scia Movie Center

A FREE Nemetschek Engineering User Contest 2009 screensaver is available and can be downloaded. It presents all 8 winners of this contest.

The Projects and Contest Book
All 122 participating projects are bundled in a colourful book of nearly 300 pages, explaining in detail the technical challenges and how the users solved these with the help of Nemetschek Engineering Group software. This book offers all participating companies a unique opportunity to show their know-how and professionalism to the outside world. As many as 13,000 copies are printed for free distribution. You can browse the online flip ebook or download it in PDF at the bottom of the flipbook.

Here are some screenshots:

 Download the screensaver today!

To use a professional software program a minimum of investment in training is required. Even if the user-interface is as much as possible self-explanatory, the availability of teaching tools helps reducing the learning time. For Scia Engineer there are a number of tools at one’s disposal: tutorials, manuals, movies, online forum, FAQ’s and of course a direct help desk. Yet we wanted to lower further the entry barrier.

As of today Scia is launching a new interactive eLearning tool through which distant learning of the basic functions of Scia Engineer becomes reality. The new application explains interactively how an engineer will enter a structural model, how the boundary conditions and the loadings are entered, and how to generate finite element meshes. It also explains the access to design modules for steel & concrete sections. And the handling of the software is explained until the generation of a full engineering report. The self-training treats 3D steel frames, as well as 2D and 3D concrete structures.
The Scia eLearning software is available in the English language and is completely free!

http://www.scia-online.com/eLearning

Enjoy !

Sister Emmanuelle - a modern icon of reliogiosity - passed away on 20th oct. a few days before her 100th anniversary

Thanks to my spouse I had the chance to meet several times Sister Emmanuelle, a catholic sister born in Brussels, but living most of her life in Middle East as a school teacher. At 63 instead of going into retreat, she decided to live in the slums of Cairo amidst the poor who collected the rubbish of Cairo. She was a tough fighter against poverty and did not shy controversial statements. She travelled regularly to Europe to collect funds to finance her projects of schools, youth clubs and finally a compost factory. During her tour in Belgium she regularly stayed at our home; she posed direct questions to all family members on what where our concrete plans and in how it would help humanity. She was really charismatic and lived extremely soberly. Never in my life have I been more touched than when we have visited her when she was living in a small “cabane” on the slumps in Cairo, surrounded by pigs and rats.

She often exclaimed the word “Yalla”, the arabic version of Avanti, Go, Vorwerts …. Do not look into the past but concentrate on what you will do in the future. And smile! In her own prayers she asked God to have the same smile of the poor around her. She teached us, rich westerns, about the happiness of poverty.

For those interested in reading books about & by Sister Emmanuelle, see http://www.speedylook.com/Emmanuelle_sister.html

In the UAE nobody has heart about a credit crisis for properties. Thousands of high-rise buildings are being finished and put on the market for sale. There is a variety of prices going from 500 EUR/m² up to 2000 EUR/m² and up, depending on the location in this desert city.

It is understandable that upscale apartments are found in the neighborhood of the thirst-quenching waterfront and on the future palm islands (Jebel Ali or Jumeirah).  With min. 400.000 EUR in hands you will be able to join the many buyers from all over the world and enjoy the traffic jams of today. However a new metroline will be opened in september 2009 and a water canal is under study to turn Dubai into the future middle east touristic centre. Happily the neighbouring cities and states (Abu Dhabi, Qatar) are taking over the lead with more impressive architectural projects.  Will an exodus from Europe start towards this region?

In the meantime Dubai and UAE are a MUST for students in architecture & engineering. Nowhere in the world one can testify the incredible speed of construction on so many sites at the same time.  Be it concrete in situ, precast, posttensioning, steel, composite, it is all there and one can see it getting shape.

Scia is convinced of the importance of UAE and is setting up its office ….   (to be continued)

Offering software to engineers is a tough profession.  Engineers are eager to understand all functionalities of a comprehensive software product adapted to their needs. Engineers to engineers, it is the most direct way for succesfull business operations. It is true that a complete software product needs competent explanation. And who is more competent in engineering software than engineers themselves ? And it is very true that innovative concepts deserve attention of the future users.

The shortage of engineers in Europe may not lead to a regression for adopting innovative software by engineers. As a software supplier we strive to understand the issues  to which our future users are confronted.  Interoperability between programs? Complex engineering tasks? Productivity increases through new design & fabrication processes? Fully integrated company specific engineering work? New building codes?  Automated drawings? Optimisation in design? Etc. etc.

E2E is our way to market. It differentiates us from other software suppliers. Our competent centres take care of sales, of training, of after-sales support, of consultancy.  The success of the Nemetschek Engineering Group is precisely its deployment of E2E, in many countries of this world.

During a business trip to Sao Paulo our eyes were opened on the many positive aspects of this big country: with a population of 180 million and a proven solid economical growth Brasil is an important member of BRICS. 

Brasil is oriented towards Europe as one can see from the shops, the restaurants, the culture; its strong multiracial character shows the openess to the world. The climate is tropical and yet quite nice. The food is creative and of excellent quality. Although the traffic in a big city as Sao Paulo (3th largest city in the world) is stressing, the people are very efficient and move ahead.

There is much more to discover than the beaches of Copacabana or the carnaval of Rio.  It may not yet be a popular tourist location, it will certainly become a place to be for business.

  J P Rammant,

With strong support of FGK (Düsseldorf) SCIA worked out is corporate and product branding. Nemetschek Scia is strengthening the engineering spirit of the Nemetschek Group. Our identity is the focus on international and multicultural expansion, through strategic forward thinking & acting. Our clients also extend the boundaries of their projects: more international, more important. Our claim is “Inspiring people to move limits”; it is valid for our clients to whom we want to give more power for engineering design, and valid for our own organisation through continuous learning.

Scia Engineer is the name of our core product in CAE; it is the future software for structural B.I.M.. Modelling, design and detailing go hand in hand. In B.I.M.  interoperability is the cornerstone, and there we want to be leading.  Scia just received its IFC 2×3 certification, the first CAE supplier worldwide. Being well aware of the obstacles engineers are confronted with, if data are to be exchanged with other design partners (architects, engineers, fabricators), Scia is further working on its BIM workbench.  Let us know your main issues when you apply digital exchanges of project data. We want to learn from you.